Paris
by Barnaby

You sit in your Paris hotel room wondering why she left you. No not you, Runway. She made that clear.

When you turned around after you arrived at the hotel, Ahn-dre-ah was nowhere to be seen, though you thought you had caught a glimpse of her back as she walked toward the fountain. You tried to call but when it went to voicemail, you felt the disappointment take over.

Now, the day after, you sit with the over read letter in your hands, a letter you’ve already read twenty times in disbelief. A bell hop had delivered it straight to your door as soon as it had arrived, apparently.

In the letter Ahn-dre-ah explains that what you had said in the car, about seeing yourself in her, wasn’t true. It says that though the last few weeks of your little affair had been great for her she had to leave before you consumed her; that she couldn’t stay your assistant any longer. Though she made it clear that she wasn’t going to be your assistant anymore it didn’t mean that she wouldn’t stay your lover.

You did take that the wrong way though, never able to stop jumping to conclusions. You actually had to re-read the letter to make sure that she wasn’t leaving you and then it didn’t sink in until the eighteenth time. At that moment you smiled. She wouldn’t leave you, but she did have to leave the Editor-In-Chief of Runway.

In the rest of the letter Ahn-dre-ah says that her feelings toward you are growing and that she would see you as soon as you were back in New York but you, even now after twenty re-reads, are doubting that she will. You doubt that you are the sort of person she deserves, yes you definitely feel she deserves better; you worry that your age is a big deal, you’re almost old enough to be her mother and what would happen if word got out. Then there is the fact that your little affair began while you were still married, granted Stephen was already contemplating the divorce or so you suspect.

Your cell phone on the desk beside you rings, startling you. You glance at the display and a smile appears when you see the name. Ahn-dre-ah.

“Allo?”

“Miranda, I wanted to know if you got my note?”

“I did’

“And?”

“And, what? Ahn-dre-ah, what did you expect my reaction to be? You left me here, stranded, and what, you expect me to be affectionate?”

“What I expected was for you to tell me that you weren’t angry, obviously that was too much. I… ah… um… I couldn’t stay, Miranda, I explained that. What we’re doing, this little affair thing, is good and I can’t ruin that by staying in a job where I’m not happy and lets face it Miranda, I wasn’t happy. You would have seen in that envelope my two weeks notice. If you really think that I’m leaving you then you’re wrong, though if that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do.”

“Of course I don’t want that. What I want, Ahn-dre-ah, is you to be here.” No Miranda Priestly doesn’t show vulnerability, you think to yourself, so this person displaying it now certainly isn’t you.

“I’m at the airport. Sorry but I have to go, my flight’s boarding. Miranda I promise that this isn’t the end.”

“Ahn-dre-ah I need you to be here.” Again you notice the vulnerability coming through in your voice, you detest the amount of emotion this girl inspires in you.

“And what I need is to board my flight. I’ll see you when you get back to New York, I promise.” You hear silence, certain that there is more she wants to say. “Miranda, I lo… I… Goodbye Miranda.” The phone is beeping in your ear signalling that she had gone.

You picked up on her slip immediately. Could Ahn-dre-ah possibly fall in love with you? Could she already be? You hope not.

You know that you are not the easiest person to love, Stephen proved that the other night when he told you he was filling for divorce, and so you would eventually drive her away. No you couldn’t possibly let that happen, you need Ahn-dre-ah almost as much as you need air to breathe, though if anyone ever said that to you, of course you’d deny everything.

You will probably never admit to the fact that you are growing quite attached to Ahn-dre-ah either, could possibly be falling in love with her, and God knows she proved that she can hold her own against your temper, proved to you many times that she is loyal.

Yes you are falling in love with her, and you have to admit, the feeling is quite… pleasant.

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